The present invention relates to a GATLING type multi-barrel weapon with sliding chambers, this small or medium-caliber weapon notably being designed to fire telescoped munitions.
Generally, a GATLING type multi-barrel weapon comprises a revolving body in which a loading area, a firing area and an ejection area are arranged, areas which are axially aligned along the rotational axis of the revolving body. The weapon barrels are integral with the revolving body and with the latter form a revolving body supported in rotation by the weapon frame.
In the firing area, the revolving body supports several chambers, generally in equal number to the weapon barrels, and each chamber moves radially with respect to its associated barrel.
A weapon of this type notably has two drawbacks, as follows:
a relatively large diameter due to the radial movement of the chambers, and PA1 a revolving body which is at least three times longer than a munition because of the alignment of the loading, firing and ejection areas. PA1 when the chamber is in its open position, the front end face of the chamber is located at a distance from the rear end face of the associated barrel to enable a munition to be loaded between the chamber and the associated barrel, the munition being held in axial alignment with the chamber and the associated barrel by support means formed of two supports on which the two ends of the munition respectively come to bear, one support being provided on the front end face of the support and guiding element of each chamber, whereas the other support is provided on the rear face of the barrel, and PA1 when the chamber is in its closed position, the chamber encompasses the munition and its front end face comes into contact with the rear end face of the associate barrel. PA1 when the chamber is in its open position, the front end face of the chamber is located at a distance from the rear end face of the associated barrel to enable a munition to be loaded between the chamber and the associated barrel, the munition being held in axial alignment with the chamber and the associated barrel by support means formed of two supports on which the two ends of the munition bear respectively, and PA1 when the chamber is in its closed position, the chamber entirely encompasses the munition and its front end face is in contact with the rear end face of the associated barrel, PA1 a weapon which is characterised, in that the two supports forming the support means are provided respectively on the front end face of the chamber and on a sliding ring located to the rear part of the barrel, and in that each chamber is slidably mounted on a support and guiding means whilst being fixed in rotation with respect to the latter, such that the weapon can fire telescoped munitions of any shape, notably those having a plastic case, and whose cross section is roughly the same from one end to the other of the munition. PA1 when the ring is in its rear position, its retaining support projects from the rear end of the associated barrel, and PA1 when the ring is in its front position, the retaining support is disengaged from the rear end face of the associated barrel.
To overcome these drawbacks, a GATLING type multi-barrel weapon, notably described in previous document (U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,913) where the chambers are slidably mounted along the rotational axis of the revolving assembly, which both enables the reduction of the diameter of the weapon and the length of the revolving body. Each chamber is formed of a tubular element which is axially aligned with an associated barrel of the weapon and is able to move between two opening and closing positions according to a translational to-and-fro movement. This translational movement is such that:
Each chamber is mounted free to revolve around an elongated cylindrical element which is axially aligned with a weapon barrel, the front end face of this support and guiding element also being located at a distance from the rear end face of the barrel, so as to be able to load a munition when the chamber is in its open position.
However, in this document, the telescoped munitions envisaged are cylindrical in shape but have, at each end, a bevel so that the two supports which hold the munition must have a matching profile.
The use of such a weapon is thus restricted to firing telescoped munitions of a particular shape. In concrete terms, such a weapon can only fire metal-cased telescoped munitions. In fact, when the chamber is in its closed position, the support which is provided on the rear end face of the barrel leaves a space above it into which a plastic-cased telescoped munition could yield during firing.
In conclusion, such a weapon can only fire cylindrical metal-cased telescoped munitions with bevelled ends.